Category: Obama

Samantha Power arrives at the UN dressed like a teenager

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

On her first day at the United Nations, great friend of Valerie Jarrett and one of the chief architects (with Hillary and Susan Rice) of our Libya involvement, new UN envoy Samantha Power spoke to refugee kids dressed like a teeny-bopper going to the beach in a sleeveless, above the knee, tank-top dress (and it wasn’t very hot in NYC that day, so she didn’t have that excuse!).

Samantha Power talks to refugee kids affiliated with federal contractor International Rescue Committee in NYC Monday. Photo: Reuters Eric Thayer

LOL!  this is my outreach to the low information crowd!

I figured maybe she had changed clothes to talk to the youngsters, but no, if you check the news, this (see photo) is how she dressed to present her credentials to the august body.  Her attire is the equivalent of John Bolton arriving in shorts and a polo shirt!

Maybe I’m just too old fashioned and think women in power should be more professional looking.

And, we cannot assume she is sending a message to the Islamists in the UN about freedom for women with her choice of clothes! (Other than a message that she is not to be taken seriously).

From Reuters:

(Reuters) – U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power faced some tough questions during her first day on the job on Monday, but they did not come from other U.N. Security Council envoys – instead she was grilled by refugee students in New York City.

At the International Rescue Committee’s Refugee Youth Summer Academy in downtown Manhattan, students asked Power questions ranging from how did she meet President Barack Obama to would she send troops to Afghanistan and her thoughts on communism.

Wouldn’t you love to know her opinion on communism!  And, by the way, as a protege of George Soros she earlier sat on the Board of the International Rescue Committee that will soon see David Miliband take the reins.

She apparently gave some thought to what she would wear on her first day….

At the Refugee Youth Summer Academy – a six-week program that helps prepare newly arrived refugees aged 5 to 19 for the New York school system – Power likened her first day on the job to their first day at school.

“Like me you’ll probably think about what you’ll wear and will it go well and will people like me,” she said. “Every time you do something new it’s scary.”

On a serious note:  We have written extensively about Power’s career (click here for our complete archive).  She was tasked with reforming the Refugee Resettlement Program when she arrived at the White House in Obama’s first term.  Human rights lobbyists were thrilled to call her the ‘Iraqi refugee czar.’  She did throw some money to the resettlement contractors, but there wasn’t much reform that I could see.

She was quoted as saying she was sick of doing “rinkey-dink do-gooder stuff” in relation to Christian Iraqis, here.   And, I was very surprised to see her go into hiding when the Benghazi terror attack happened because she, Hillary and Rice were in on pushing Obama to get on the oust-Gaddafi bandwagon in the first place.   I even wrote a post suggesting the White House (Jarrett?) was keeping Power safe from criticism when the Benghazi fire storm erupted.

On August first, the Senate voted 87-10 to confirm Power as the new US Ambassador to the UN.  Here is the vote (hat tip: Robin).  The ten sensible and brave Republicans who voted NO! are:  Barrasso, Cruz, Enzi, Heller, Lee, Paul, Rubio, Scott, Shelby, and Vitter.

As Robin pointed out, a big disappointment is that Sessions voted Aye.  Power’s doctrine—the responsibility to protect—is, and will be, responsible for many more impoverished migrants arriving in the US, so what was Sessions thinking?

Why the Catholic Bishops are wrong on immigration

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That is the title of a piece by writer Brad Miner at The Catholic Thing.   Miner asserts that the primary thrust of their interest in the so-called “comprehensive immigration reform” effort now being debated in Congress is driven by a desire to increase the number of Catholics in their dioceses.    He may be be correct, but only partially, since he leaves out any mention of the payola the Bishops receive from the US taxpayer to ‘service’ immigrants in need of social services and jobs.

He says the Bishops are “apolitical when it suits them.”  And, he does say they are farther to the political Left then some Democrats on immigration.  And, they love Obama on immigration (that is me saying that, not Miner).  But, Miner never mentions Caesar’s $$$$ that the Bishop need to survive!

I’m grateful though for one more voice saying that the Bishops are wrong (they are wrong too because they are doing a terrible injustice to the American working class in need of jobs and impoverished Americans of all races and faiths who could use their help!).

Here is how Miner’s piece begins (Hat tip: Judy).  Emphasis below is mine.

BEFORE his role in the “Gang!”

My purpose here is neither bishop-bashing nor politician-baiting, and I have no reluctance in supporting an immigration measure that respects the rule of law and actually accomplishes the goals set down by the U.S. Senate’s most recent “Gang of Eight” in its Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 [S.744]: progress towards citizenship and secure borders.

However, my guess is that this law – which can’t even be rendered as a proper acronym! – will be about as effective as that monument to futility, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Marco Rubio’s career – he’s one of the Eight – may get a boost from . . . BSEOIMA, but as long as the border’s a sieve and Latin American governments are either socialist or plutocratic, nothing will change the pace of illegal immigration except a depressed economy in el Norte.

Anyway, I suspect Sen. Rubio, who is Cuban-American and speaks Spanish, believes he is the answer to the Republican Party’s recent electoral woes, and the GOP is just desperate enough to believe him. We’ll see how that works out in 2016.

And I suspect Christian compassion plays a role in animating both the politicians’ and the Catholic bishops’ concerns about the plight of Central American immigrants.

That said, immigration reform as it now stands is a baldly political business, and that’s as true of the bishops as it is of the politicians: votes for the latter; devotees for the former.

Read it all.

As for Rubio and the other Republicans pushing amnesty, for all of their efforts to get dead parrots to speak, it won’t even get them votes.  It will get him money from big business for his campaign war chest, but Rubio has already been abandoned by a large segment of the conservative base.

For new readers, we have an extensive archive on the USCCB here.

“Temporary” refugee should get legal residency says 6th Circuit Court of Appeals

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, we should strike the word “alien” from the US Code says Senior Judge Damon J. Keith.

Judge Damon J. Keith: the word “alien” is offensive and demeaning

I thought this story might just contain a little nugget of information on ‘Temporary Protected Status‘—another backdoor amnesty program for aliens who got into the US illegally and then because of a storm (decades ago!) or an earthquake or a civil war, the US declared anyone already here from that country could stay “temporarily,” but there is nothing temporary about this program.  The Salvadorans will tell you about that!

Most recently, the Obama Administration granted “temporary” refugee status to any Syrians already in the US.

To my knowledge, no one group has ever gone home!  And, I’m not sure, but I think those with TPS will all get to stay and become Legal Permanent Residents under S.744 (the Gang’s bill) if it should become law.

Now comes what I thought was a run-of-the-mill press release from an immigration law firm, but with an intriguing twist near the end. (Emphasis is mine).

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders who entered the United States illegally may now be eligible to ad adjust their status to “Lawful Permanent Resident” (LPR), according to a recent groundbreaking decision by a United States Court of Appeals.  The decision serves as a stunning departure from previous Unites States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy requiring TPS holders to first leave the United States before applying for LPR status, a process complicated by potential ten year bars from re-entry and additional obstacles facing those immigrants with previously unlawful presence in the country.  Attorney Ryan Korsunsky of Wites & Kapetan believes that the Court’s decision is a step in the right direction.  “USCIS policy on  adjusting TPS status should account for the uniqueness of an individual’s situation, and not treat all immigrants alike based solely on how they entered the country, which in many cases was over a decade ago.”

TPS holders come to the United States from foreign countries experiencing unsafe or extraordinary conditions, including armed conflict and environmental disasters.  Currently USCIS designates immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Syria as eligible to apply for TPS if they meet additional statutory requirements.  During a designated temporary period TPS holders are not removable from the Unites States, can be employed by obtaining an Employment Authorization Document (EAD), and may be granted authority to travel.  Most importantly, as it relates to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), USCIS regulation states a TPS holder “cannot be detained by DHS on the basis of his or her immigration status.”

The case, which came from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, is called Flores, et al. v. USCIS, and involves Saady Suazo, a Honduran national granted TPS in 1999 [temporary?—ed] after entering the United States without inspection (EWI) in 1998 [illegally—ed].  Suazo married a U.S. citizen in 2010, with whom he is raising a minor child, and applied to adjust his immigration status on the basis of his marriage.  Suazo’s application was denied by USCIS in accordance with the policy preventing those who entered the country illegally from adjusting their status to LPR.  The Court of Appeals reversed the decision, giving Suazo the requisite eligibility to apply for an adjustment to LPR status.  The Court found that the TPS statute allowed for Suazo to be considered in lawful nonimmigrant status for the purpose of adjusting his status.  The Court also referred to the U.S.’s current immigration system a “archaic and convoluted” and described the process Suazo would have faced under previous USCIS policy as “a waste of energy, time, government resources, and will have a negative effect on his family-United States citizens.”

The Obama Administration will likely not defend the present law by taking the Court of Appeals decision to the US Supreme Court.

Here is what I found most interesting.  Senior Judge Damon J. Keith declared the word “alien” offensive and said that it should be stricken from the US Code:

Judge Damon J. Keith, the author of the Court’s opinion, also denounced the term “alien” as offensive and demeaning, urging Congress to eliminate it entirely from the United States Code.

By the way, the definition of “alien” is simply someone born in another country who has not acquired citizenship.  So what word would the Judge find to describe such a person?  They are always, always! seeking to change the language.

Who is Judge Damon J. Keith?  Here he is being feted on his 90th birthday last year.  I don’t have the time to search much but he played a role in several decisions including ones involving the Communist Party in the US and I especially found this reference in the wikipedia page for Bernardine Dorhn interesting.

On October 14, 1970, Bernardine Rae Dohrn was added to the Federal Bureau of Investigations list of the “10 Most Wanted” fugitives. She used several aliases, including Bernardine Rae Ohrnstein, H.T. Smith, and Marion Del Gado. The FBI removed Dohrn from its “10 Most Wanted” list in December 1973, after District Judge Damon J. Keith dismissed the case against the Weathermen.

Photo is from The Damon Keith Collection, here.

Our complete archive on Temporary Protected Status may be found by clicking here.

Related?  See James Simpson—GOP immigration plan devised by Communist Party—at World Net Daily.

IBD: La Raza and other non-profits will benefit from S.744 “slush fund”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars!

That is exactly what we have been saying for months—S.744, the Gang of Eight plus Grover bill provides massive new funding for non-profits including the nine major refugee contractors.

This excellent summary by M. Stanton Evans for Investors Business Daily, even suggests that the slush funds might be the major reason behind the whole monstrosity.  Thanks to Creeping Sharia again for alerting us to an important news item.

[Note to readers:  The link is giving me fits this morning, so what I have snipped below is all I could get before getting error messages]

The title, La Raza In Line To Pocket Reform-Bill Slush Funds, focuses the piece around The National Council of La Raza, but what La Raza presently gets from you, the taxpayer, is chump change ($10 million annually) compared to the tens of millions NGOs like the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services receive now for their immigrant services.  If S. 744 (or anything like it) becomes law, they will be rolling in your money.

LOL!  Yesterday I saw a Catholic official quoted as saying the Catholic Church is “enriched” by immigrants!  Can’t find the link right now, but I did laugh at the choice of the word “enrich.”

Here is some of the IBD piece by Mr. Evans, but check out the whole thing.

The avowed purpose of the immigration bill passed by the Senate and pending in the House is to provide a “path to citizenship” for the illegal immigrants in exchange for tough new enforcement measures that would prevent other such incursions in the future.

But buried deep within the immigration bill are hidden multimillion-dollar slush funds for left-wing nonprofit groups to provide services to the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants now in the U.S. Once enacted, the slush funds would total almost $300 million over three years and grow over time.

Reviewing the massive legislation, it’s obvious that lawyering would be needed. The 1,100-page proposal is a network of legal requirements and protections, waivers and exceptions, including a new “provisional immigrant” status (the first phase of legalization for illegals), appeals of adverse rulings, stays of deportation, applications for work visas, and countless other such guarantees.

Within this thicket of new rights are features that would vastly increase the flow of immigrants to perhaps 30 million or 40 million over the next decade. One is a set of “chain immigration” clauses, legalizing the spouses and children of illegals.

Recipients of the pork (Obama’s redistribution of your wealth) are not named in the bill.

The bill provides a sizable slush fund for leftward groups in the immigrant serving, advocacy and lobbying business. As Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., puts it, the bill is “chock-full of de facto earmarks, pork barrel spending, and special interest sweeteners.”

Though the nonprofit agencies getting the money aren’t named in the bill, their identities can be deduced from the history and politics of the issue.

We can name some, besides La Raza, the advocacy groups getting more of your money will be Casa de Maryland, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Assoc., Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Mass Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, others for your states!

Then here are the nine major refugee contractors (plus they have 300 or so subcontractors making it very difficult to follow your money):

Evans continued discussing the various slush funds and then says this:

One section creates a “New Immigrant Council,” including representatives of nonprofits “with legal and advocacy experience working with immigrant communities,” to “introduce and integrate” new immigrants “into the state.” The bill authorizes an additional $100 million — $20 million a year for five years — to finance these efforts. Thus a second slush fund is created.

A third grant program appears in a later section, funding an outreach “campaign” to inform immigrants and the public about employee “rights, responsibilities and remedies” in the legislation. This recruitment project too would be contracted to nonprofits, at a cost of $120 million — $40 million a year over a three-year span.

While the Senate bill is advertised as a “tough, conservative” measure, the largely unnoticed sanctuary funding and La Raza clauses may be the real point of the legislation.

Our entire archive on S.744 and the refugee contractors can be found by clicking here.

Call your Congressman to stop the train wreck!

Wanted: US Muslim families to “adopt” kids from camps

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Muslim kids of course.

Sheesh, and I thought the burgeoning ‘unaccompanied minors program’ of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (in the US Dept. of Health and Human Services) only took in kids who had come across our borders or had been abandoned by their parents when the family came across the border.  Now, we learn we are plucking ‘kids’ (16, 17, 18 year olds?) from camps elsewhere in the world, who supposedly have no parents/no family, and bringing them to the US.  And, you are paying for this!

Linda Hartke, CEO of Lutheran Immigration Services, will help facilitate the Muslim “adoptions.”

I recently mentioned the astronomical size of this program, here, in my report on the Lancaster meeting, and wondered about the huge number of kids I thought were coming across the borders.  Now we know they aren’t just ‘finding their way’ to the US on their own!  And, notice the word “orphan” isn’t being used.  This is what I learned in Lancaster:

In 2012, 14,700 kids arrived in the US without parents and in 2013 the number is expected to be 20,000.

Thanks to Creeping Sharia for tipping us off about this story at the Muslim Link:

It  has been nearly six months since the U.S. Government launched the Action Plan on Children in Adversity at the White House.  [here is a link to the Obama Administrations Action Plan—ed]

[….]

The Action Plan represents the first-ever whole-of-government strategic guidance for the U.S. Government’s international assistance for children.

[….]

The Joint Council on International Children’s Services, a Virginia-based NGO has been working for decades on the pillar of advocating for children in family care – especially for those around the globe who may be growing up on the streets or in orphanages or other institutions.

[….]

In the greater Washington DC area, government agencies identify refugee youth overseas (often living in camps outside of their country of origin) who are eligible for resettlement but who do not have a parent or a relative in the US. Due to their age (under 18), these children are placed into the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors program and receive refugee foster care services and benefits.   [Ahhhh!  What about a parent or relative right there in the camp?—ed]

One of these benefits is placement in a compatible home with matching ethnicity, language, and religion where possible.  The placing agencies are always seeking families to volunteer to help these teens by providing a home as they are receiving schooling (which may have been interrupted in their country of origin or while they were living in a camp) and be involved with their case-specific programs with an aim to helping them achieve eventual independence by their early 20s.

So we could see a youth  of 17 or 18 (who says he has no parent) plucked from a refugee camp for Syrians brought to the US to be “adopted” by an American Muslim family and then when he turns say 21, he just becomes one more alien on the path to US citizenship who will also be able to bring in his family who will surely be ‘discovered’ at about that time!

And, to top it off, the family who “adopts” the teen gets paid by you—the American taxpayer—to care for the child!  Some racket!  And, look who is here—LIRS and the USCCB (getting paid to make the arrangements)!

The two leading placement organizations, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, are especially keen to work with the Muslim community in our area since it is likely they could find matches for many of the children enrolled in the program. Specialized training in helping these children adjust to their new life and situation is a part of becoming involved as is a background check.  Financial support for participation is provided.   [Yippee!  They will get paid for their “charitable” work!—-ed]

I sure hope LIRS and the USCCB are doing some really good screening of American families—sure would hate to hear about a sexual abuse charge or a slavery charge (wasn’t it only a week or so ago a Saudi woman was charged with keeping aliens as slaves?)

Photo:  More on LIRS and Hartke’s Baltimore digs. See ‘Don’t break our rice bowls!‘

 Have a look at a recent Form 990 for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, page 9. They had income in that year of $31,653,748 and, of that, you, the taxpayers of America, gave them $30,376,568.  Their CEO makes $204,186 in salary and benefits.  (Doing well, by doing good!  Hartke’s bio is here.)